Colin Kaepernick says his white adoptive parents were ‘racist’ because they told him as a teen that corn rows looked unprofessional’
- Kaepernick was adopted at five weeks old by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick
- They had two biological kids but had lost two sons in a row to a heart defect
- Kaepernick complains that he went through ‘some very problematic things’
Colin Kaepernick has accused his white adoptive parents of ‘perpetuating racism’ by telling him as a teen that corn rows looked unprofessional, and says he had to experience ‘very problematic things’ while growing up in their house.
Kaepernick was adopted as an infant by Rick and Teresa Kaepernick, a white couple from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. They moved to Turlock, California when he was four.
They had two biological children but lost two sons to congenital heart defects.
Kaepernick – a former NFL player who led the charge with the take-a-knee movement – says that while he knew they ‘loved him’, there were ‘very problematic things’ that he ‘went through’.
Speaking to CBS to promote his new graphic comic memoir, Kaepernick gave the example of his mother telling him corn rows were not professional
Kaepernick’s parents, Rick and Teresa, adopted him when he was five weeks old. They already had two biological children but had lost two sons to congenital heart defects
Speaking to CBS to promote his new graphic comic memoir, Kaepernick gave the example of his mother telling him corn rows were not professional.
Kaepernick as a high school football star
He claims she told him he ‘looked like a little thug’ when he showed her the hairstyle.
‘I know my parents loved me.
‘But there were still very problematic things that I went through,’ he said.
Kaepernick’s parents have not publicly responded, nor have they commented on his anti-racism crusade.
In a gushing ESPN article before he launched his movement against the NFL, Kaepernick’s parents told of their joy at bringing him home.
His father, who was a business executive at a cheese company for much of his career, said: ‘It all went really smoothly.
‘I know it’s not usually that smooth with adoptions, but it was.
‘Colin never had any adoption issues at all.
‘The only difference is his skin is a little bit browner than ours.’
Kaepernick with his father, who was an executive in a food company
Kaepernick’s biological mother gave him up when he was five weeks old. She was 19
His mother said: ‘I’ll never forget that day.
‘They brought him in an infant carrier and set him down. The birth mother was there.
‘I looked at her and she nodded and I just picked him up out of the carrier. The minute I picked him up, I just cried.
‘We gave her a big hug. And she needed a couple more minutes. And then we left.’
His biological mother was 19 and had chosen to give him up when he was five weeks old.
Kaepernick attended John H. Pitman High School, a public high school in Turlock, where he was a football star.
He then studied at the University of Nevada in Reno on a football scholarship before graduating in 2011. He joined the San Francisco 49ers after graduating.
In 2016, Kaepernick launched an anti-racism movement when he started taking a knee during the national anthem at NFL games in protest against police brutality towards black men. It enraged the league and others, who said it was a sign of disrespect. Others embraced it around the world
Kaepernick and his mother, Teresa, in a social media image shared before his anti-racism crusade
